These are derived from a series of notes I wrote up during the early 1990s pertaining to Isaac Marks. My goal here was to answer one important question: was he an Sephardic Jew residing in New York City with a long local cultural history, or a newly arrived Ashkenazi?

In Maryland, Richard Preston and Henry Coursey signed a declaration regarding Lumbrozo’s statements expressed before them:

“I, Richard Preston, jr., do testify yt, about June or July last past, coming from Thomas Thomas’s, in company with Josias Cole and ye Jew Doctor, known by ye name of Jacob Lumbrozo, the said Josias Cole asked ye said Lumbrozo, whether ye Jews did look for a Mesias? And ye said Lumbrozo answereed , yes. Then ye said Cole asked him what He was that was crucified at Jeruselum? And ye said Lumbrozo answered. He was a man. Then ye said Cole asked him, how He did do all His miracles? And ye said Lumbrozo answered, He did them by ye Art Magic. The ye said Cole asked him, how His disciples did do ye same miracles, after he was crucified? And ye said Lumbrozo answered, that He taught them His art. And further saith not.”

Henry Coursey signed a deposition stating very much the same, noting in addition: “…as to that of miracles done by Art Magic he declared what remains written concerning Moses and ye Magicians of Egypt.”

Lumbrozo was ordered to remain in the Sherriff’s Custody.

Of importance here is the mention made of Thomas Thomas, the Doctor or Colonel in Westchester Coutny during the American revolution. This implies a close connection of Lumbrozo and New York’s Hudson Valley to yet be determined. Dr. Lumbrozo precedes Dr. Marks by 50 to 60 years. The reference to “Art Magic” from a Jewish perspective could be a reference to mysticism and the Qabala. The Christian reaction to many of the actions linked to “magic” was typical — resulting in much the same consequences that refer to satanic beliefs or the forms of blamed laid upon wicca.

Commentary

.First Landings

Jewish people travelled to North America as early as 1630, employed as mercenaries for the West India Company. Their mercantile, financial and banking skills led to the establishment of a heavy populated Jewish region in Brazil by 1637. According to historian Eli Faber, it wasn’t until the collapse of Dutch Rule in 1685 that they were forced to leave or be deported from this colonial community in Brazil. It was this migration from Brazil that led to the first permanent settlement of Jews on Manhattan Island, in the young city of New Amsterdam.

Soonafter, Jewish families once again began their heavy migrations to the New World, many opting to settle in New Amsterdam. The majority of immigrants settling in the city were Sephardics. Still the majority of Jewish immigrants to the New World were of Ashkenazi origin.

When the first ship landed in New Amsterdam, it bore at least four full families–four elderly gentlemen including Kipp and Knickerbocker.

On August 22, 1654, Jacob Barsimson, the first Sephardim to land in this city, was accepted by Peter Stuyvesant “under a passport from the Directors of the Dutch West India Company.” A much larger group followed Barsimson’s landing in New Amsterdam just two weeks later, on September 7, 1654. They weren’t as quickly accepted by Stuyvesant or allowed to immediately settle in this city, but were required to file an appeal to Stuyvesant’s decision with the West India Company. Following their appeal, these Jews were finally allowed admissions to New Amsterdam by Peter Stuyvesant.

No elders named Marks or del la Marques were aboard. Still, that does not rule out the Marques Family or possible relation to Isaac Marks of the udson Valley. There were another fifteen on board who were fifteen years old or less, who were not include in the listing of names produced by Peter Stuyvesant.
These first Jews had earlier avoided an inquisition in Brazil, and according to one author “after a series of misadventures, reached the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam” became Marranos or New Christians from the Iberian Peninisula.

About the same time, Sephardics removed to New Amsterdam from Recife, Brazil, and a number of these and other Jews removed to the Carribean around Curacao. Soonafter, Jews in Holland removed to London. His recount of New York statistics notes 17 Jewish households on the 1700 tax assessment rolls. By 1722, this was 20 households, and in 1728–31 Jewish households–making up about 2.3% of the population, the highest percentage noted. The 1734 assessments mention 19 families. Hershkowitz gives their primary residency as “the Dock Ward fronting the East River” removing to the South Ward, “inland and immediately west of the waterfront” by the 1720s.

For the most part, early Jews got along with non-Jews, and many of these Jews blended in quite well with the colonial social and political systems. Some historians wrote that the Sephardim, out of no choice of their own, interacted socially with Ashkenazim who later migrated there, and often married due to lack of spouses from their sects. The Sephardics also married the Dutch and English Gentiles, being less often the case for Ashkenazis, this perhaps increased their tendency to stay in the outskirts of urban life, and therefore weren’t as priviledged as Sephardim when it came to interacting with aristocrats.

Second Landing

The next major landing of Jews was in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1658, where fifteen families made their stay.

These two cities–New Amsterdam and Newport–are the major docking sites for Ashkenazis coming to the New Netherland-New England area over the next several decades.

Also during these years, some Ashkenazis landed in Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, Savannah, and much later, New Orleans, and that many established small isolated communities of very small number. Isaac Marks could have come from any one of these communities, but most likely was of the New Netherland-New England area due to other Marques family records in New York about 1700.

One Jewish person who made his stay in the Virginia-Maryland area indirectly pertains to this study of Dr. Isaac Marks. There was a Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo in Virginia. When he was in Maryland around 1658, he was taken into court for an indictment brought against him under “An Act Concerning Religion.” He was accused of blasphemy and his conviction was brought about after Richard Preston and John Offset signed statements claiming Lumbrozo “took Christ to be a necromancer” claiming Christ’s powers were those of “Art Magic.” As a result of these convincing statements, Lumbrozo was executed. Lumbrozo’s death rules out the possibility that he directly carried the practice of Alchemy into New York as a doctor, but it suggests to me that it is quite likely that other Hebrews, of the few then alive in North America, were trained in medicine.

Later Migrations

In later years, Jews emigrated from Holland and England. Some may have been of the Rhineland, and made their way to New Netherland by the main ports either in England or in Northern Amsterdam. They landed in the ports of New Amsterdam/New York, Savannah, Newport, Charleston, Philadelphia and Montreal. They remained as businessmen, but for a brief period were kept from particpating in many Dutch-based business transactions. Listed as Merchants, of which there were as many as 34 by 1740, they also participated in land purchases, and most importantly in the importation of tropical-based produce such as Coconut, Lignum Vitae, Sugar, Cacao, Dye plants such as Indigo, and newly discovered drugs.
From 1685 to 1695, the New York population had approximately 100 Jews residing there. Their business interactions were so spread out that they dealt equally with London- and Amsterdam-based transactions as well as Curacao- and Jamaica-based transactions. Between 1725 and 1730 this number doubled and remained fairly stable for the next several decades. In 1773, the number of Jews residing in New York had increased to only 242. A calculation by contemporary Jew Gershom Seixas estimated the number of American Jews to be approximately 3000, of which 350 lived in New York City. The first census in which Jews are mentioned drops this amount to half Seixas’ estimate. Nevertheless, enough Jews migrated to or were born in North America to keep thier population fairly stable well into the onset of the Revolutionary War.

According to Daniels, it was the Sephardics who not only had control of the living manners, but also the major sect of Judaism to control the operation and activities of the synagogues until 1816. This separation of Jewish groups led to a division between the Ashkenazim and Sephardim in some cases, and so, since those who inhabited the urban areas were pretty much Sephardim as was the case in Holland and London, the Ashkeazim tended to move about the region, remaining outside the Sephardic urban seting. In some cases, this may have even led some Ashkenazi to change their names when needed, to fit into the new masses surrounding them. At least until 1720, Ashkenazim were outnumbered by Sephardim.

During the late 1600s, the Jews built their homes in New Amsterdam on Whitehall Street, moving to Mill Street once the British regained control of “Nieuw Amsterdam” and renamed in “New York.” The Jews in New York city maintained their social, religious and political composure by building their synagogue here, and thus continued practicing their faith and holding the merchantile businesses together.

Naturalization Records

Naturalization was not required until 1683, when those seeking it had to be willing to confirm Christianity by a laying of hands on the seven Books of Moses. By 1740, thrteen Jews had naturalized. The alternative form of allowing citizenry behavior available to Jews was to become “a freeman of New York City.” This allowed such people the rights to perfrom retail trade, serve in public offices, and become members of the electorates. In law it was required that Naturalization and Endenization occur before these political and social rewards were pursued, but this rule was not adhered to that much. Between 1668 and 1770, 58 Jews became freemen, of which slightly less than half were naturalized. For 3 Pounds 12 Shillings, a tradesman attended to their freemanship. Such freemen like Issac Rodriguez Marques used this freedom to establish a business trading and shipping Central and South American produce. With this trade, he became able to make a substantial living and invest this money in whatever materials he needed to fit his personal needs, be it to invest in property in upstate New York, or to purchase books and learn medicine.

The first list of “Freemen of the City of New York” notes many merchants, as well as goldsmiths, bakers, perukemakers, tailors, snuffmakers, shopkeepers, and each of a braziers, tallow chandler, tobacconist, distiller, cordwainer, vendue master, saddler, and watchmaker. Despite this listing of exact occupations seen this list, the earliest Jewish names lacked mention of vocations following their names, save Jacob DePorto who in 1696 was noted as a merchant.

Aside from Isaac Rodriguiz Marques [1697], this includes Isaac Henriquez [1688], Simon Bonan [1688; noted elsewhere as a bonafide Pirate], David Robles [1688], and Moses Levy [1695]. Isaac Marques was listed as one of three with the most entries with customs from March to June 1701, and in 1705, made 5 of the 36 entries made that year. Curacao and Barbadoes were the most commonly seen entries. By 1725, Isaac Marques has dropped out of contention for one of the leaders in shipping.

In 1748, the first Palatines from Rhineland came in to set up homes in the Catskill Mountains on Livingston’s Land and initiate a turpentune manufactory.

.Education

Daniels provides some brief but interesting schooling notes on p. 390: education was in Latin, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, English and at times French, with non-linguistic courses in Mathematics, Algebra, Geometry, Navigation and Merchant-Book Keeping. Women’s education was in “accomplishments,” manners and domestic arts such as needlework, music, and dancing. An interesting note later appears stating “The level of Jewish Scholarship in the Colonial period was low. Jewish publications were rare and scholars even more rare. There was, however, at least one Jewish graduate from King’s College [Columbia], and five from Franklin’s Academy [University] in Pennsylvania. While there is no record of a New Yorker owning an extensive library system. two Jews–one in Philadelphia and one in Montreal–had valuable collections.” According to Daniels, this library consisted of dictionaries in the above mentioned languages, as well as mathematics, history, law, music and perhaps some of the sciences. [See Herschkovitz, p. 18 for mention of language and textbooks; add German and Portuguese and Dutch.]

We thus have to ask, did Osborn’s preceptor possess a sizeable library? Apparently he did, for Osborn makes mention of various medical books and illustrate skills not contained in the books he mentions that can only suggest he had access to books in Robert Boyle’s alchemy and Nicolas Lemery’s chemistry as well.
The first Jew to attend standard Medical School was Walter Judah at Columbia College in 1795, and in Medical School soon thereafter. In 1798, he succumbed to Yellow Fever which he caught while treating his patients. According the Herschowitz, few more Jewish Americans would attend the American Medical schools for the next forty years.

Merchant Isaac Rodriguez Marques

Isaac Rodriguez Marques no doubt learned whatever languages were needed for his merchantile business to be a success. Dealing with internation produce, he therefore learned most or all of the languages listed above. According to Herschkovitz, these merchants were in touch with the Carribean, Italy, Spain, the Near East, and India, aside from parts of Europe. Whereas some came to specialize in Jewels, others like Marques probably specialized in valuable edible and medicinal produce, including plant, animal, and mineral. Their larges mercantile business became distributors of Spermaceti products such as candles, popular beverages like Tea and Rum, flavorants such as Lime Juice, Cacao bean and Muscavado Sugar, foods including “choice flour, bread, pork, pease”, Rice and Coconuts, Barbadoes and other Tars, staves, Flaxseed (and perhaps Russian and German Hempseed) for fiber production and for use as a medicine, and in the case of at least one merchant–negroes.

On the listing of occupations, including age and kind of occupation for each individual, the following was noted, making the likelihood that Isaac Marks was a doctor seem probable: Elias Marks, Physician on p. 34, who lived at 352 Washington Street and was 25 years of age. At the same address were Isaac Gomez, Jr., Mordecai Frois and Nathan Emanuel merchants, Solomon Seixas, Auctioneer, Moses Gomez, Gentleman, and Rebecca Hendricks, Widow.
There was no entry for Doctor Isaac de la Marques/Issac Marks

1695-7 FREEMANSHIPS

The alternative form of allowing citizenry behavior and business practice was to become “a freeman of New York City.” This allowed Jews to perfrom retail trade, serve in public office, and become electorates.

Naturalization and Endenization were required for this, but this rule was not abided by too much.

Between 1668 and 1770, 58 Jews became freemen, of which slightly less than half were naturalized; for 3 Pounds 12 Shillings, their tradesman attended to their freemanship.

This may have been Issac Marques’ method of developing his business as an importer of Central and South American produce. The earnings he made allowed him to make a substantial living and invest in land and in the materials he needed to learn medicine, which he later taught to apprentice–Cornelius Osborn.

Interestingly, the list of “Freemen of the City of New York” notes many occupations, such as merchants, goldsmiths, bakers, perukemakers, tailors, snuffmakers, shopkeepers, and a brazier, tallow chandler, tobacconist, distiller, cordwainer, vendue master, saddler, and watchmaker. Despite this listing of exact occupations, five of the first six listed (Jacob DePorto, 1696, merchant, being the exception), lack mention of a vocation after their name. Aside from Isaac Rodriguiz Marques [1697], this includes Isaac Henriquez [1688], Simon Bonan [1688; noted elsewhere as a bonafide Pirate], David Robles [1688], and Moses Levy [1695].

.
1697 Isaac Rodriguez Marques becomes a Freeman in New York City.

1700 See 17 Jewish households on the 1700 tax assessment rolls.

1701 Isaac Marques was listed as one of three with the most entries with customs from March to June 1701.

1705 Isaac Marques is in 5 of the 36 customs entries that year. Curacao and Barbadoes were the most commonly seen entries. By 1725, Isaac Marques has dropped out of contention for one of the leaders in shipping (which see entry for.).

1706 Readying for departure (his first solo professional merchant marine?), to parts once central to New Spain, Isaac Rodriguez Marques writes “Jamaica and the West Indies, and Considering the certainty of Death…” he makes out his will: “Deare mother…be maintained out of my Estate and live with my Wife or my Daughter during her natural life.” [See Daniels, p. 386]

1720 At least until 1720, Ashkenazim were outnumbered by Sephardim.

1722 TAXES. See 20 households on the tax assessment rolls; Hershkowitz gives their primary residency as “the Dock Ward fronting the East River” removing to the South Ward, “inland and immediately west of the waterfront” by the 1720s.

1723 “Isaac Rodrigues” on 6 July 1723 [Isaac Rodriguez Marks?]

1725 Isaac Marques has dropped out of contention for one of the leaders in shipping.

1725-1730. 200 Jews residing in New York. This number remained stable for the next twenty years.

1728 TAXES. See 31 Jewish households on the tax assessment rolls, making up about 2.3% of the population, the highest percentage noted to this date.

MARRIAGES

From 1728 to 1765, the women married in an age range of over 30 years, with most weddings occuring between 17 and 23 years [average 23.3].

In the 1728 to 1768 age group for men, ages ranged from 18 to 60. The most frequent marriages were of those around 27 to 32 years of age [average 30.8].

In later years, more Jews emigrated to North America from Holland and England. Jews possibly of Rhineland origin could have made their way into New Netherland by way of the main ports, either by departing England or departing Europe by way of the Northern Netherland Port. These ships landed in the New Amsterdam/New York, Savannah, Newport, Charleston, Philadelphia and Montreal. One of their New York entries was situated between Manhattan and Newton, at the Port of Williamburg. Other ports were situated further into the New York harbor at the southern landings on Manhattan.

As businessmen, Jews participating in many Dutch-based business transactions during these years and are listed in the tax rolls, public registers and customs logs as Merchants and skillcrafters, of which as many as 34 were actively working by 1740.

Due to their income from these crafts, they participated in land purchases (once the land purchase restrictions were lifted), and in the importation of tropical natural products such as Coconut, Lignum Vitae, Sugar, Cacao, Dye plants such as Indigo, and newly discovered drugs (their chief source of income.) By importing these goods, they had to deal with customs agents in New York and at their places of departure, as well as their financiers based in America, London, Amsterdam, Curacao, and Jamaica. We can thus learn more by reviewing their cusotoms records, ship logs, ledgers and tally books.

1743-1745. Isaac Marks. Rombout Precinct Taxlist.

1745, October 16. “To Doctor Marks 12/” Court of General Sessions Payment to Dr. Marks for care of the poor.

(Treatment of Francis Filkin’s son?) Taken from General Sessions Book, noted in Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson. “Physicians and Medicine in Dutchess County in the Eighteenth Century.” Yearbook of the Dutchess County Historial Society, pp. 78-88. [year?] p. 79.

1747, April 10. Boundary noted as “the Jew Doctor’s House”

Rombout Precinct land changed hands. See boundary description in which his name appears. Deeds, vol. 9, p. 81.

Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson. “Physicians and Medicine in Dutchess County in the Eighteenth Century.” Yearbook of the Dutchess County Historial Society, pp. 78-88. [year?] p. 79.

“1748” (?) Deed notes “the Jewish Doctor” as a neighbor, could Isaac still have owned this land? Was he living there?

Taken from General Sessions Book, noted in Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson. “Physicians and Medicine in Dutchess County in the Eighteenth Century.” Yearbook of the Dutchess County Historical Society, pp. 78-88. [year?] p. 79.

1760s Ancient Document 3584 (Dutchess County Historical Society)

Document 3584 is an example of a humane gesture on behalf of Isaac’s family. In it, according to a recount by a County historian, is a tale of three negros who were arrested by the constable after stopping at a “French Doctor’s” house in Dutchess County. The doctor’s mother-in-law prepared “cyder” for them. Their imbibation intoxicated them leading to unruly conduct “two stops later” in the nearby hills. (What ensued is uncertain as of this point).

This can be viewed perhaps as a sign of compassion for the prejudice against negores, who made a stop there while escaping apprehension for uttering words “[of] treasonable discourse tending to a conspiracy…[in order] we can obtain some guns from the man of war to conquer them.”

The Historian’s added note to this recount refers to this “French Doctor” as also being the Jewish Doctor, a conclusion he drew by analyzing the placement of these events. Isaac Marks lived along King’s Highway (now called Market Street) adjacent to the Adriance Library facility [see, p. 16, his text.] Continuing this logic, from 1743 to 1748 Isaac Marks was in the Rombout Precinct and after removed to Poughkeepsie.

Therefore: Was Isaac Mark’s Poughkeepsie residence like, adjacent to, or the same as Osborn’s residence? Did they exchange houses due to changes in family size? Since they worked together, was their bondage such that this was a comfortable option for each of them? Was Isaac the doctor who dealt with the local witches or Mother Ann Lee during their stays in jail?

Isaac Marques, the Dutch Resident

And so why did Isaac Marks remove to Dutchess County?

And when he removed was he there to serve that region as a doctor, and with whom Cornelius Osborn was trained as an apprentice?

and with who Cornelius Osborn removed to Dutchess County to begin his profession following the apprenticeship, which ended about 1744?

Could Isaac Marks have felt a sympathy for the African Slaves?

Isaac Marks, as a Jew, was well aware of what the end results of fear and prejudice. As a Jew, he like others was susceptible to ridicule soonafter the Jews removed to New Amsterdam from Brazil. A Jewish historian who wrote of this, noted their high degree of tolerance of this prejudice.

In Brazil, the Jews were side by side with those bearing both fair and dark complexions. Some bore a complexion close to that of Africans, and others of Spanish Sephardic origin resembled the Melanos later imported to North America and sold as slaves. Other types of prejudice like this were of Sephardic origin. Haym Solomon of New Amsterdam/New York City had slaves, and after one escaped, put an advertisement in the local newspaper to get him back. Native Americans in some cases lived with European settlers where they served as slaves, and even people from India in some cases made it to Great Britain for their later sale as servants.

Jews in Brazil and North America, like Isaac Marks, no doubt felt a respect for Brazilians and others who were excommunicated by their churches, forced into accepting Christian faith by swearing on Moses books, or were exported from their native lands under the demand of the local government. Throughout New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, these groups set up regions they then claimed as their own, such as New Sweden and New Belgium in what is now New Jersey, the Scottish Highland, Rhinelands, and New Netherlands in what is now New York, New France which tagged the Colonial-Canada border, New Spain along the southern Atlantic and Gulf regions, and New England, which was the reamining lands east, north and south of the remaining mid-Atlantic and North Atlantic colonies.

Jews near New Spain took on Hispanic surnames. Those in New York serving as merchants to New Spain and so also took on Hispanic names. Near New France and in the Huguenot territory of Hudson Valley, NY, they took on French names. In German Rhineland territory, they took on German names. In New England and British-dominated regions, they converted to their Anglican name. So, for Isaac, he could be either Isaac [Rodriquez] Marques, Isaac de la Marques/Marquis, Isaac Marx, or Issac Marks.

Along the Hudson River Valley, those regions through which the King’s Highway was laid were claimed by the Dutch. Isaac Marks might have removed there from New York City hoping to avoid scrutiny and prejudice attached to his Jewishness. In the more suburban and rural regions along the Hudson River, he took up a new practice, and cotninued to prosper on land he had purchased using his earnings as a merchant with New Spain while residing in New York.

We see Isaac Mark’s sympathy with the Africans brought to this country by what he possibly did to retain their faith and rejuvenate their hope for freedom from bondage and slavery.

Ancient Document 3584 at the Historical Society is an example of this humane gesture on behalf of Isaac’s family. In it, according to a recount by historian Frank J. Doherty, is a tale of three negros who were arrested by the constable after stopping at a “French Doctor’s” house in Dutchess County. The doctor’s mother-in-law prepared for them “cyder’ made from unknown additives and materials. This imbibation intoxicated them leading to unruly conduct “two stops later” in the nearby hills. (What ensued is uncertain as of this point).

The Historian’s added note on this recount is most important. He came to discover that the French Doctor and the Jew Doctor are the same, by analyzing the placement of these events. According to Doherty, Isaac Marks lived along King’s Highway (now called Market Street) adjacent to the Adriance Library facility [see. p. 16, his text.] Continuing his logic, from 1743 to 1748 Isaac Marks was in the Rombout Precinct and after removed to Poughkeepsie.

REFERENCES

Faber is of John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York.
Doris Groshen Daniels. “Colonial Jewry: Religion, Domestic and Social Relations” (American Jewish Historical Quarterly, March 1977 (Vol. 66, no. 3)
Leo Hershkowitz in “Some Aspects of the New York Jewish Merchant and Community, 1654-1820. American Jewish Historical Quarterly, January 1977, Vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 10-11, and September 1976, p. 10-34.,
As in the famous comedy team: “Offset and Pressed on.”
From Morris U. Schappes. Documentary History of the Jews in the United States. 1654-1875. New York: Citadel Press, 1950) pp. 13-14. “11. Charged with Blasphemy. The Indictment of Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo in Maryland. February 23, 1658.” (Two Legal Statements, by John Hoffset, signed 19 February 1658, and Richard Preston, signed 21 February 1658.)
Including “Isaac Rodrigues” on 6 July 1723 [Isaac Rodriguez Marks? Possibly not. See Heschkowitz, p. 17, fn 30, for both “Isaac Rodrigues” and “Isaac Raphael Rodriguez”.